Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972)

AKA: Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave

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6.8

Release Date: Aug 04, 1972
Rated: N/A | Runtime: 96 Mins | Language: Italian
Director: Sergio Martino
Stars: Edwige Fenech, Anita Strindberg, Luigi Pistilli, Ivan Rassimov, Franco Nebbia, Riccardo Salvino, Angela La Vorgna

Summary

Oliviero is a burned-out writer, living at his estate near Venice, his dead mother dominating his imagination. He is also a degenerate: sleeps with his maid and his ex-student, hosts Bacchanalia for local hippies, and humiliates his wife Irina in front of strangers. She lives in terror. When a young woman is murdered, police suspect Oliviero. Things get complicated when his young, beautiful, and self-confident niece, Floriana, pays an unexpected visit. A silver-haired stranger observes. More women die, and thoughts of harming Irina give Oliviero new inspiration. What's Floriana's game and who's the observant stranger? Watching all is a black cat named Satan.

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What to Expect

The American-style slasher – at its roots – is a wholesome affair. The protagonist is Laurie Strode-type, an honest, innocent individual undeserving of what fate has in store. The antagonist is a half-known and often unnamed hurricane of chaos; a Michael or a Jason. Or a Freddy.

European films take a different approach. With this film, we begin with an examination of the evil fellow. His name is also European. It’s Olivero Rouvigny, a sophisticated and still-handsome writer who resides in a rambling villa with his gorgeous spouse, Irina. Olivero is a pig. He’s a drunk. He throws parties for hippies in order to humiliate his wife in public. He’s detestable. And he’s the character we follow. He’s no Laurie Strode.

Given his detestable personality, he’s the obvious suspect when a girl is stabbed. Olivero is alwa Read more...

Given his detestable personality, he’s the obvious suspect when a girl is stabbed. Olivero is always engaging in extra-marital affairs and although Irina provides him with an alibi, he’s probably the culprit. Even the police are less than convinced of his innocence. But the film withholds confirmation of this suspicion.

Then – a second murder. This one occurs inside the villa. The immigrant maid, Brenda, with whom Olivero has also been dallying – is killed. Olivero (in typical fashion) convinces his wife to cover for him a second time. They jointly bury the maid’s corpse in the wine cellar and concoct a cover story for her sudden departure.

Things get upended when there’s a third murder in a nearby house of ill repute. The assailant is caught and killed – and it’s not Olivero after all. He has an alibi. (The film is loosely, loosely based on Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, The Black Cat.)

In the meantime, a third main character has entered the narrative. Olivero’s vibrant niece, Floriana, arrives, flirting with Olivero while initiating a physical intimacy with Irina. It’s a love triangle (or is it a quadrangle?) We also have an unsolved murder to contend with. If Olivero didn’t killer Brenda, who did? Was it Irina? Or …

European cinema takes some growing accustomed to. But if you’re new to giallo, you could do worse than to start with Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key.

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Movie Review: Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972) Review

Critic Reviews:

Ultimately, this is a family intrigue, as both Irina and Oliviero find themselves locked not just at different times into different rooms of the villa, but also into a marriage that they equally abhor... Martino expertly manages the many twists, in a story where it is always important to know just who is in bed with whom, who is on top, and who is being taken for a ride.

– Vodzilla.co

I leapt at the chance to review this based solely on the title, and was rewarded with a far more haunting, interesting bit of near-exploitation than I could have expected. Stocked with beautiful, nasty people using and abusing one another, gorgeous cinematography, and a creepy score, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key is flat-out awesome.

– Criterion Cast

Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have The Key is a wonderfully crafted proto slasher that could have only come from Italy with excellent direction and a strong score from Bruno Nicolai. This is an unusual Italian giallo in terms of story, turning accepted conventions around with a brutal, twisting narrative. That may be why it has held up so well, decades after release... This is a cult classic in every sense of the word.

– DoBlu.com